Amaranth
by WroughtBetwixt
Summary: Sometimes, one chance meeting can make all the difference. Luna Lovegood, Tom Riddle/Voldemort, Alternate Universe.


The Forbidden Forest was holding it's breath.

The birds had fallen silent, the usual mice and rats had hidden under tree roots and brush, and even the wind seemed to be frozen in place. The only thing that seemed to move was the light of the full moon that filtered through the trees, shifting and dancing in scattered flashes of silver as she moved across the sky. Walking through this strange stillness was a black-cloaked figure, moving slowly and deliberately into the depths of the forest. The figure stopped at one point, kneeling in a patch of moonlight and touching a disturbed bit of earth; someone had already been this way, and not too long before.

Faster than before, the figure glided across the forest floor without a sound, sticking to the shadows now. A clearing appeared ahead; the figure slowed and moved from tree to tree, withdrawing a wand from under the cloak and readying it. There was a voice, speaking quietly in the clearing. Hiding behind a tree, the figure peered around the trunk and waited, watching. There was a second figure in the center of the clearing, hand outstretched and holding something out to the darkness.

That was when the Thestral appeared. The tall, sable equine stepped out of the darkness and into the clearing, her skeletal frame moving guardedly at first. Her baby, a yearling, was at her side. Flaring her wings, the mother craned out her neck and sniffed the arm of the person holding the offering. She paused a moment, as if remembering something almost forgotten; the wariness in her muscles relaxed away and her wings folded against her side as she took her prize. Probably some poor critter, long dead. The second figure was stroking the muzzle of the yearling, speaking softly to it in words the first figure couldn't hear. After a moment, the mother nudged the second figure with her nose, seeking attention.

Lowering the hood of the cloak, Luna Lovegood watched the other figure, curious. She tucked her wand back into her robes, taking a careful step into the clearing and into the moonlight. The two Thestrals perked their ears and turned their heads to look at her; the figure turned with them, and Luna stared at the scarlet eyes that met her gaze.

"Must be a good night for feeding Thestrals," a dark, whispering voice murmured.

"I suppose so," she replied, her calm tone not even wobbling. "Though I'm a bit surprised to see you here, I must admit."

"Is this the part where you run away screaming?"

"Not likely. It's a long way to run." The baby Thestral trilled, and Luna couldn't help but smile. She walked over and stood next to the man, scratching the yearling between the ears. "My name is Luna Lovegood. Tom Riddle, isn't it? Harry told me about you."

There was a bemused tone in the Dark Lord's voice, when he finally did answer. "That will be fine, thank you."

"Suits you better than Voldemort, I think."

"There are days where I'd agree with you." Leaning against a tree, Tom watched the rest of the Thestral herd move from the forest into the clearing, many of them approaching the young Hogwarts student and expecting a pat or two. "Harry told you about me, eh? And you're not scared?"

"Mm," Luna made a non-committal noise as she pulled meat out of a pack she'd brought with; she threw it to the younger Thestrals, kneeling down on the ground and watching a couple of them fight over the smaller scraps. "It would make sense for me to be scared. Almost everyone else is scared of you, except the headmaster, and he is a very wise man."

Tom didn't reply, not at first. "Dumbledore is indeed wise. It's a shame that the Ministry of Magic has their claws around his neck," he said after a while, his tone casual, measured. "But then again, the Ministry has most of the wizidaring world under their thumb."

"The Ministry?" Luna stood up and brushed her knees off, glancing at Tom from the corner of her eyes. "Like Umbridge?" Her gaze turned back to the Thestrals. "If she had her way, none of this would be here. She just made it so werewolves can't even work these days."

"So, you see the problem, then. A little law here, a piece of legislation there. Who can teach, what can be taught, who can be taught... entirely governed by their opinions of what the magical world should look like. I'm sure that, as a Ravenclaw, you understand the danger."

"The entirety of Hogwarts," Luna murmured, "would be in jeopardy. When a small handful of people start deciding what is best for an entire world..."

"Indeed. And that is precisely why I aim to stop them."

Luna's blue eyes squinted just a bit as she looked up at Tom, her head tilting like a puppy that just heard something intriguing. "But..." she trailed off, her gaze unblinking as she thought. "But what about Harry? Everything that has happened?"

A small snort of annoyance came from the darkness of the hooded cloak, his glinting with an unnatural glow. "Hogwarts is... was my home. I would never try to destroy it, nor those defending it. There are people within the walls who do want to tear it apart, and far too many other people who don't have the gall or the power to root them out. Harry is one of the few people standing to defend the spirit of the school. What happened with him and his family is a long story."

"That's a funny thing about facts." Luna tilted her head up and watched the sky, her voice quiet. "Sometimes when you hold them up to the light, they change."

"Of course, I could be lying," Tom added with an empty chuckle.

"No. You're telling the truth, or at least your version of it."

"Oh? And how do you know?"

Luna smiled, her pale cheeks dimpling with the expression. "Thestrals are a good judge of character. Especially the mothers." She turned her face back down, and the calm mask dropped so quick that it was as if a lamp had been turned out, replaced by one of solemn determination. "If there are people within Hogwarts that want it destroyed, then shouldn't there be people there who are aware of that?"

"There are a few. One that I placed there long, long ago."

"But they are adults. Not students."

"And?"

The dark look on Luna's face deepened. "You'll need younger sorts, to be around the students in case they notice things the teachers don't. The closer to Harry Potter, the better. He has a knack for finding all the trouble."

"That is predictable," Tom said under his breath, eyeing his companion as he took in what she was saying. "You do have a point. It would be a bit difficult to find anyone who is willing to do such a task for me, however... someone intelligent, subtle and someone that I can also trust. Are you making a suggestion, Miss Lovegood?"

Luna opened her mouth, but let out a small sigh as a silvery, translucent butterfly flitted by and landed on her shoulder. "Ah, I best be getting back. Amaranth necklaces don't work too long for invisibility charms."

"Indeed." Reaching one ashen, scale-skinned hand out, Tom brushed his fingers over the butterfly and turned it into a slip of paper with small lettering on it. "Any information can be sent to this address via owl. Just in case you think of someone who might help me."

Taking the paper from Tom, Luna turned and gave the yearling Thestral a pat on the muzzle. When she got to the edge of the clearing, she stopped and rubbed the back of one leg with a bare foot in thought; she glanced over her shoulder, the calm mask in place as if it had never changed. "Do you think you can trust me?"

"The Thestrals do. Apparently that's a good start."

"Quite." A small smile tugged at her lips. "Good night, Tom Riddle. Well met."

"And you as well, young Ravenclaw. Good night."

The mother Thestral beat her wings, and by the time her and her yearling had reached the sky, the two cloaked figures were gone.


End file.
